Trump-Putin latest: Don hails ‘productive' talks… but reveals ‘there is no deal' as Vlad invites president to Moscow
NO DEAL Trump-Putin latest: Don hails 'productive' talks… but reveals 'there is no deal' as Vlad invites president to Moscow
DONALD Trump hailed "productive" talks with Putin - but said no deal has been made yet in an extraordinary live televised press conference with Vlad.
After nearly three hours of talks in Alaska, the US president said the pair "agreed on some big points" - but there was no mention from either leader of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
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The US president said the pair 'agreed on some big points'
Credit: Reuters
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Trump and Putin delivered an extraordinary live televised press conference
Credit: AFP
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Putin looks on during a joint press conference with Trump
Credit: AFP
Trump said he would "making some calls" to European leaders and Volodymyr Zelensky soon - and added "we have a very good chance of reaching a deal".
The US president described the talks "very productive' but admitted "haven't quite got there".
He revealed: "There's no deal until there's a deal."
And he gave little detail on what was discussed with Putin, or what security guarantees Ukraine would receive.
Putin warned European leaders like Sir Keir Starmer not to 'torpedo' the progress made at the historic Alaska summit.
In a bizarre moment at the end of the press conference, Putin - speaking in English - told Trump "next time in Moscow", extending an invitation to Russia.
In response, Trump joked: "I could take a little heat for that."
Putin insisted he was "sincerely interested" in ending the Ukraine war - as his troops continued their savage bombardment.
The two leaders did not take any questions or share details of talks on Ukraine's future.
The Kremlin had expected the talks to last for a "minimum" of six to seven hours - but the pair held the behind-closed-doors meeting for only two-and-a-half hours.
Trump says tyrant Putin's need to kill 'might be in his genes' but onslaught 'hurts his negotiations' as leaders head to Alaska for Ukraine peace summit
It comes after a B-2 stealth bomber flanked by four F-35 fighter jets thundered over as the two leaders shook hands on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.
Putin looked on as the nuclear-capable aircraft swept overhead, a clear signal from Washington that the US president was meeting the Russian leader on his own terms — and with overwhelming firepower in the skies.
Trump's runway walk also took Putin through four parked F-22 Raptor stealth fighters - the opening scene to a high-stakes summit billed as a potential turning point in the Ukraine war.
Trump's Air Force One touched down at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson just 20 minutes before the Kremlin's presidential jet carrying Putin arrived.
The US president was seen clapping at the Russian tyrant as he approached - while a beaming Vlad gave him a thumbs-up.
They then had a moment in Trump's limo - nicknamed The Beast - ahead of closed-door talks about ending the war in Ukraine.
It was the first time in almost a decade that Putin had set foot on US soil - despite being a wanted war criminal.
Earlier on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he was"counting on America".
And Trump blasted Putin for continuing to attack Ukraine and said his urge to kill "might be in his genes".
Read our live blog for the latest on the Trump and Putin peace talks...
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BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
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Frank Gardner BBC Security Correspondent Getty Images It is quite possible that Monday's meeting in the White House could prove even more crucial to the future of Ukraine - and for all of Europe's security - than last Friday's US-Russia summit in Alaska. On the surface, that Putin-Trump reunion seemed to live down to every expectation. There was no ceasefire, no sanctions, no grand announcements. Were Ukraine and Europe about to get cut out of a deal cooked up behind closed doors by the world's two foremost nuclear powers? Not, apparently, if Ukraine and its partners can prevent it. The presence of Sir Keir Starmer, President Macron, Chancellor Merz and other leaders alongside President Zelensky in Washington is about more than making sure he does not get ambushed in the Oval Office again, in the way he did on 28 February. They are determined to impress upon Donald Trump two things: firstly, that there can be no peace deal for Ukraine without Ukraine's direct involvement and secondly, that it must be backed by 'cast-iron' security guarantees. Above all, Europe's leaders want the US President to see that Ukraine and Europe present a united front and they are eager to ensure he is not being swayed by his obvious personal rapport with Vladimir Putin into giving in to the Russian leaders' demands. Watch: How the Trump-Putin summit unfolded... in under 2 minutes This is where the Sir Keir Starmer's diplomatic skills will be sorely tested. Trump likes Starmer and listens to him, and in a month's time Trump will be coming to the UK on a state visit. He also likes Mark Rutte, the NATO Secretary-General who will be in attendance, a man who is sometimes called 'the Trump Whisperer'. The US President appears to be less fond of President Macron and the White House was sharply critical recently of his intention to unconditionally recognise a Palestinian state at the next UN General Assembly. For a peace deal in Ukraine to have any chance of working, something has to give. European leaders have said frequently that international borders cannot be changed by force and President Zelensky has said time and time again he will not give up land and besides, Ukraine's constitution forbids it. But Putin wants the Donbas, which his forces already control around 85 per cent of, and he has absolutely no intention of ever handing back Crimea. Yet as the former Estonian PM and now Europe's top diplomat Kaja Kallas once said to me: victory for Ukraine in this war does not have to be exclusively about reconquering occupied land. If Ukraine can obtain the sort of Article 5-type security guarantees now being talked about, sufficient to deter any future Russian aggression and thereby safeguard its independence as a free and sovereign state, then that would be a form of victory. It does now appear that what the US and Russia have been discussing is a proposal that broadly trades some Ukrainian land for security guarantees that it won't have to give up any more to Russia. But the question marks are huge. Could Ukraine accept a deal that ends the war but costs it land, especially when so many thousands have died trying to save that land? If it is asked to give up the remaining 30 per cent of Donetsk Oblast that Russia has yet to occupy then does that leave the path westwards to Kyiv dangerously under-defended? And what of Starmer's much-vaunted Coalition of the Willing? Earlier talk of deploying tens of thousands of boots on the ground have since been scaled back. Now it's more about 'safeguarding skies and seas' while helping Ukraine to rebuild its army. But even if peace does break out on the battlefield we are still in dangerous territory. Every military expert I have spoken to believes that the moment the fighting stops Putin will reconstitute his army, build more weapons, until he is in a position, perhaps in as little as three to four years, to grab more land. If and when that happens it will be a brave Typhoon or F35 pilot who is prepared to fire that first missile on an advancing Russian column. Zelensky and allies head to White House for Ukraine talks
BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
Zelensky and allies head to White House for Ukraine talks with Trump
US President Donald Trump will host Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday for their first meeting since the pair's heated exchange in the White House - but this time the Ukrainian president is bringing European general of Nato Mark Rutte and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are among the leaders who will join Zelensky in Washington for efforts to end the war with follows Trump's summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska that ended with the US president dropping a demand for a ceasefire and calling instead for a permanent peace deal.A US envoy said on Sunday that Putin had agreed to security guarantees that could lead to a Nato-like security pact for Ukraine. "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, without heading to Washington for Monday's meeting are French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It is unclear how many of them will go to the White handing Donbas to Putin would mean for UkraineIn maps: War-ravaged Ukrainian territoriesFor so many heads of state to travel with such little notice across the Atlantic to what is essentially a wartime crisis meeting appears without precedent in the modern era, underscoring the sky-high sources say European officials are concerned that Trump may try to press Zelensky to agree to terms, after the Ukrainian leader was excluded from the Trump-Putin meeting on US soil last US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the BBC's US partner CBS that any suggestion Zelensky might be bullied by Trump into accepting a peace deal was a "stupid media narrative". Nato leaders also appear eager to avoid a repeat of Zelensky's February trip to the Oval Office that ended abruptly after an argument with Trump and US Vice-President JD altercation - which saw Trump accuse Zelensky of "gambling with World War Three" - left Washington-Kyiv ties in European leaders have been working diligently behind the scenes since then to mend the relationship. The Ukrainian leader has been coached to talk in terms of deal-making - language that resonates with April, Ukraine signed a minerals agreement that gave the US a financial stake in the country, and Trump and Zelensky spoke privately at the Vatican before Pope Francis's funeral. Ukraine made it clear it was willing to pay for US July, the two leaders had a phone call that the Ukrainian president described as "the best conversation we have had".Meanwhile, Trump had begun to express exasperation with Russia's unrelenting onslaught in Ukraine. He called Putin "absolutely crazy", drastically shortened his deadline for a peace deal, and threatened economic sanctions on these deliberations grind on, Russian forces continue to advance on the battlefield. They now occupy almost a fifth of Ukraine since Moscow launched its full scale invasion in February 2022. A virtual summit was held on Sunday between Zelensky and the so-called coalition of the willing - a group of nations including the UK, France and Germany that have pledged to protect peace in Ukraine once it is achieved. Afterwards, Emmanuel Macron told reporters their plan was to "present a united front" for Monday's talks with and the Nato leaders said they were keen to learn more after US envoy Steve Witkoff told US television that Putin had agreed on Friday to "robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing".Witkoff said such an agreement could see Europe and the US protect Ukraine from further aggression with a Nato-like defence agreement."We were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato," Witkoff told CNN on has long opposed Ukraine joining Nato, and Witkoff said the arrangement could be an alternative if the Ukrainians "can live with it".Article 5 is a principle at the heart of the 32-member transatlantic military alliance that says its members will come to the defence of an ally that is under also told CNN that Russia made "some concessions" around five heavily contested regions of talks with European allies after the Alaska summit, Trump said Putin had reiterated that he wants the key Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up Donbas, eastern Ukraine, according to European at Sunday's virtual summit with Nato leaders, Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian constitution makes it impossible to give up territory - and that this should only be discussed by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at a trilateral summit with the US secretary of state, meanwhile, sought to temper hopes that a deal to end Europe's deadliest conflict for 80 years could be imminent."We're still a long ways off," America's top diplomat said on Sunday.
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Putin won in Anchorage. Now Zelenskyy and Europe are in an even more perilous position
Donald Trump portrays himself as a hard-nosed dealmaker. Yet in the run-up to Friday's summit with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, his claim that the Russian leader held him in high regard and was therefore serious about ending the war in Ukraine sounded naive. Putin doesn't let sentimentality shape his political and military decisions. Nor has he disavowed his longstanding claim to four Ukrainian provinces: Donetsk and Luhansk, which together comprise Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south. Despite Russia's overwhelming numerical advantage in troops and weaponry, Putin occupies only one province, Luhansk, almost entirely. Yet he persists. In the days before his meeting with Putin, Trump said the Russian economy 'stinks' and that falling oil prices would cause Russia's war to run aground. The war has certainly placed severe strains on Russia's economy, including high inflation and interest rates, labour shortages and a lack of investment by private businesses. Earnings from oil sales, a key source of state income, have also shrunk by 18% this year due to falling prices. There has even been talk of a recession. But these pressures have not prompted Putin to reassess his war plans. He ignored Trump's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accepted right away. Likewise, he was unfazed by Trump's threats to impose additional sanctions – with 'severe consequences', as he put it just before the summit – if Russia did not relent. Trump returned from Anchorage empty-handed for other reasons. Successful summits require painstaking advance work by leaders' subordinates; this one was arranged in haste. Given the rush, it was unsurprising that the Anchorage talks ended hours ahead of time. (The working lunch the two delegations were to have was cancelled.) During his post-summit press conference, Trump gamely praised Putin's goodwill and said that they had agreed on 'many points' during discussions that he described as 'productive'. Yet he failed to identify a single point of agreement and, atypically, didn't stay to answer reporters' questions. Putin came out ahead in Anchorage. He didn't agree to Trump's pet proposal for a ceasefire. It was Trump who ended up accepting Putin's position that a ceasefire must be preceded by a comprehensive peace agreement that addresses the 'root causes' of the war. Putin did show some flexibility by agreeing to freeze the frontline if Ukraine were to withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk, and thus the entire Donbas, enabling Russia to acquire lands it has failed to conquer despite more than 40 months of fighting. Yet this offer could prove to be a trap. If Zelenskyy, who arrives in Washington for talks with Trump on Monday, refuses to do this, Putin may be able to look on as Trump tries to coerce the Ukrainian leader, forcing Europe to take sides. If Trump fails, Putin can paint Zelenskyy as the real obstacle to peace. Trump had declared that there would be no future talks if the summit failed – which it did, as he couldn't obtain a ceasefire, his main objective – yet in Anchorage, he spoke of follow-up meetings. Putin concurred, mischievously suggesting Moscow as the venue, but without indicating that he was open to including Zelenskyy and European leaders. By agreeing to further negotiations and keeping Trump's hopes for a peace deal alive, Putin may have ensured that the efficacy of additional US sanctions on Russia remains untested. By simply showing up in Anchorage, Putin demonstrated that the western policy of isolating him won't work. Zelenskyy and European leaders are undoubtedly relieved that the duo didn't unveil a deal to end the war by partitioning Ukraine. Still, Trump's readiness to accept Putin's insistence on this bilateral meeting after US efforts to include Zelenskyy failed had already sown more mistrust between Washington and Europe. Now Trump has embraced Putin's view that there can be no ceasefire without an overall agreement that addresses all aspects of the conflict. He has also in effect endorsed Putin's call for Ukraine to cede Donbas in exchange for a freeze of the frontline. These shifts will increase Ukraine and Europe's distrust of Trump – to Putin's advantage. Putin's confidence in Russia's eventual victory has been bolstered by Trump's decision, taken well before the summit, to cease direct weapons deliveries to Ukraine – assistance that totalled $65.9bn while Joe Biden was the US president. Russia will continue bombing Ukraine's cities, and its ground troops will keep pushing to grab even more land. In this respect, the summit has changed nothing. What has changed since Trump's return to the White House, though, is the US's role in the war. Ultimately, Trump believes that Russia's invasion does not threaten the US so it's up to the Europeans to support Ukraine's defence, a point JD Vance reiterated shortly before the summit. European countries have been increasing its defence spending and military support to Ukraine. But it had better be prepared to do even more and summon the unity to stay the course. Meanwhile, the lure of additional talks with Putin will keep alive Trump's illusion that continued diplomatic engagement with Russia and his self-proclaimed deal-making skills will eventually end the war – clearing the path to the Nobel peace prize he covets. Rajan Menon is a professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York and a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
